The Christian Year (Keble)
The Christian Year was a bestselling collection of poetry by John Keble, published in England in 1827. History Keble's attractive personality was reflected in his writings. As early as 1819 he had begun to write the hymns which afterwards appeared in The Christian Year. In 1823 he had shown them privately to his friends; among others to Thomas Arnold, who declares that "nothing equal to them exists in our language" (Stanley, Life, chap. ii.) By the spring of 1825 he had been almost persuaded by his friends to publish them, though he desired rather to work upon them till his death and leave them for posthumous publication.Overton, 293. The Christian Year was, however, published anonymously in 2 volumes in 1827. His father's desire to see it in print before he died partly gave the impulse. No one, and least of all Keble himself, anticipated its great success. Before his death it had passed through 95 editions, and by the next year the number had reached 109. The editions contained 3,000 and even 5,000 copies; nor by the end of the century was there any sign of the decline of its popularity. Writing Keble said that he aimed at bringing men's thoughts and feelings into more entire unison with the prayer-book. The suggestiveness of the book, the writer's intimate knowledge of the Bible and power of presenting its most poetic incidents, the accuracy of its descriptions of natural scenery, the sweetness of its melody, the happiness of its general diction and particular expressions, its exquisite taste, its scholarly tone, its beautiful spirit of unaffected piety, were all appreciated. Its defects were also recognised from the first. Its ruggedness of metre and awkwardness of construction in some parts were so marked that William Wordsworth (Dr. Pusey tells us) "proposed to the author that they should go over the work together with a view to correcting the English." Its obscurity was also complained of. But it was favourably received even by those who did not share its author's views. Popularity Victorian scholar Michael Wheeler calls The Christian Year simply "the most popular volume of verse in the 19th century". In his essay on "Tractarian Aesthetics and the Romantic Tradition," Gregory Goodwin claims that The Christian Year is "Keble’s greatest contribution to the Oxford Movement and to English literature." As evidence of that Goodwin cites E.B. Pusey’s report that 95 editions of this devotional text were printed during Keble’s lifetime, and "at the end of the year following his death, the number had arisen to a hundred-and-nine." By the time the copyright expired in 1873, over 375,000 copies had been sold in Britain and 158 editions had been published.A Latter-Day Tractarian: Dom Gregory Dix, Lulu.com, 2013, 106. Google Books, Web, Mar. 2, 2016. One source calls The Christian Year "The best selling book of religious verse in the nineteenth century, with around one million copies sold."The Tractarians and the Liturgy, The Old High Churchman, Blogspot, Web, Sep. 10. 2013. Notwithstanding its widespread appeal among Victorian readers, the popularity of The Christian Year faded in the 20th century. See also *Bestsellers in poetry References * . Wikisource, Web, Feb. 15, 2017. Notes External links ;Text *"Red o'er the forest peers the setting sun" *''The Christian Year'' in Sacred Poets of the Nineteenth Century: "Morning ('Hues of the rich')," "Evening ('tis gone, that bright')," "What went ye out to see?," "See Lucifer like lightning Fall," "There is a book, who runs may read," "O, for a sculptor's hand," "Red o'er the forest peers the setting sun," "The Conversion of St. Paul," "Blessed are the pure in heart," "Where is it mother learn their love?" *''The Christian Year'' at Project Gutenberg *''Christian Year'' at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library ;About * Keble, John Category:1827 books Category:19th-century books Category:Christian poetry